LCHS Friday Focus

Happy Friday! Next week is a short one so I am going to update for the next couple of weeks. Reminder our next building in-service is on November 24 at 7:00 am. You will meet in your department PLC groups. Please use the last protocol where you discussed your reading comprehension strategy with your department and mixed group PLCs. Tuesday is an early out day, so we will get out 1 hour early. Don't forget December 4 is the midterm date of 2nd quarter. Grades should be updated that morning by 8:30 so we can run midterms and get them sent out that day. All PASS Plans should be completed by this date also. If you have a student who you think may be at-risk please get this scheduled. I have had the question a couple of times about the parent not responding to the letter. If a parent hasn't called you, please give them a followup phone call to your letter to ensure the parent actually got the letter. The counselors will be going to classes to give their registration talk. We w...

Happy Friday the Thirteenth! I hope everyone has had an excellent week. Now that we have had parent/teacher conferences, I hope you will take the time to reach out to the parents that were unable to make it. Especially those of students who are risk. These are the parents that we really need to reach to help make a difference in their children's education. Don't forget about PASS Plans. We should have these completed by December 4. After December 4, it will be difficult for a us and the parent to help the student succeed. Midterm for 2nd quarter is December 4, we will send out midterms on that date. Our next building professional development meeting will be on November 24. This will be in your department PLC groups. It is important that we use this time to discuss the SMART goal you created on November 4 and what you have done to reach that SMART goal. In the next couple of weeks Nicki and Barry will be starting their classroom presentations for registration. We will be r...

Happy Friday! I just wanted to take a moment to celebrate and recognize our accomplishments this first quarter. We have no students who are on the 2nd quarter in-eligibility list, this means all of our students passed at least 4 full-time classes. In the Success Center, 36 of the 48 students assigned for assistance in reading comprehension have increased their scores. In addition we have had 5 students who have exited the Success Center and are back in their regular study hall. Several students have won honors or made All-State groups in various activities. The Student Council earned the honor council distinction. It has been a great start to the school year. Next week we have our last night of parent/teacher conferences. If you haven't seen an at-risk student's parent please call and personally invite them to come Monday night. This would be an excellent time to have a PASS Plan meeting. The more we communicate with the parents, the better chance we have of reaching the st...

Happy Friday! We have wrapped up the month of October and the first quarter. Just a reminder grades are due Tuesday at 8:30 am. We will run report cards that day and then hand them out at conferences. If you have a student at risk in your class, a phone call home inviting the parents to conferences will go a long way. Lets not leave this up to the parents to decide if they should come. Research supports that having engaged parents leads to greater student achievement. It also sends a message to the students that we do care about their academic progress and them. Conferences are next Thursday and Monday, November 9. Both nights go from 5:00 to 8:30 pm. Don't forget about having a PASS Plan for students at risk. The important part of that plan is having something the parents are responsible for. If you don't make the parents accountable for their child's success, then we are still the ones doing all the work. This should be about coming up with a plan that each person has...

Happy Friday! We are now entering the last week of the first quarter. Time is certainly moving. As we end the quarter, please take the time to call parents of students who are struggling. If a student is at risk of failing, make sure the PASS Plans are done in a timely fashion. As a parent, you would want a chance to be able to help your child if needed. There is no reason to have a influx of PASS Plans towards the end of the semester as that really doesn't allow much time to make a difference for the parents. Grades will be due on November 2 at 8:30 am. We will run report cards that day and will pass them out at parent/teacher conferences like past years. Looking ahead, our building extra-hour meeting will be on Wednesday, October 28. At this meeting you will meet with your mixed group that you made your SMART goal with. During our last SIT meeting, the group thought it was important to be able to talk with this group about what you did and how it went since this is the grou...

Happy Friday! Congratulations to the BIG RED BAND and Curt Ohrlund, Randy Ewing, Randy Benton, and Mary Benton on the Division 1 ratings at State Marching Band Competition this past Saturday. They have had an outstanding season. If you haven't seen them yet, you can catch them at halftime of the football game on October 23 or the Parade of Bands concert on October 30. The student council will be attending the State Student Council Leadership Conference again this year on October 26. At the conference, they will be recognized as a honor council for the work they did last year. This is a first for our student council so please make sure to congratulate the student council members and their advisers Nancy Isebrand and Neal Utesch. It is no small feat to earn this distinction! We will also have students presenting this year at the conference, which is another first. We have had a few PASS Plan meetings taking place since midterm. This is a good time to meet with the parents b...

Happy Friday! I hope everyone has had an excellent week. I have received some feedback from a few students about the goal activity during advisory. The students were questioning why we are doing this. They had legitimate questions, but once I explained Growth Mindset to them they understood. You will want to reinforce this idea during your next advisory. Please let the students know that goal setting and working towards a goal will help them not only in school but in life. When they graduate from high school, students will have certain dreams they will want to accomplish. In order to accomplish those dreams, they need to have a plan. Part of the plan is setting a goal and reflecting on what you are doing to either help or hinder reaching the goal. We do have our building PD meeting next week. We will meet in our department groups before school. The SIT team has come up with a protocol to use during this meeting to keep the discussion moving towards the SMART goals and strategies ...